This will be our first year with Elf on the Shelf and I am excited to start this new holiday tradition for our family . Follow along for our elf on the shelf ideas. We will focus on easy ideas and simple ideas for your elf.
No need for fancy materials or staying up all night setting up your elf adventure.
Lil B and M-Woww are ages 4 and 2. I don’t expect M-Woww to necessarily understand it all but she is pretty good about keeping up with her older brother. I think she will catch on fairly quickly.
You can follow along with our month of elf activities. In order to save on time, I have collected different elf ideas on Pinterest (click to follow our board). To start, Day 1 our elf (updated: his name is Rusty) will be arriving in a box with a letter from Santa.
We are changing the “elf on a shelf “message a bit, instead of the elf spying on who is naughty or nice, the emphasis will be on teaching the Elf the meaning of Christmas.
We will teach Rusty:
• the importance of helping others
• use please and thank you’s
• why we give gifts at Christmas
To help be efficient and organized I used a pre-made printable calendar and planned out a month of activities in advance. This way I will have ideas and materials ready to go. Week 1 and the sources I used are listed below. Also, please share your own elf adventures in the comments below.
Sources to Make it Easy:
Meaning of Christmas inspiration and Welcome Letter
Free Printable Santa Letterhead
Look ahead at Week 1:
Day 1- Arrival in box with Welcome Letter
Day 2- Elf dumps shoes all over the floor
Day 3- Elf toilet papers the tree
Day 4: Elf paints ornament.
Day 5- Elf makes Lil B’s lunch (with wrong items)
Day 6- Elf colors in coloring books
Day 7- Elf makes snow angel in flour
*Update: Our Elf is named “Rusty”
Here is our visual round up of Week 1:
For more Rusty adventures check out Week 2 , Week 3 and 4
Thank you so much for sharing these creative elf on the shelf ideas. These seem very easy to do.